Haydn Opera on Period Instruments: Les Boreades, dir. Ryo Terakado

22.10.2008, Tokyo, Hokutopia International Music Festival. Joseph Haydn, "Orlando Paladino", "Les Boreades", dir. Ryo Terakado. I joined this production as a leader of the 2nd violins which gave me plenty of opportunities for using my camera from insider's vantage point. Tiny camera, silent shutter my best tool next only to my violin and my studio carving tools. Isn't it a pity the audience is rarely given the chance to sense how the opera is being prepared for the performance?

François Fernandez in Tokyo

François Fernandez, my ex-professor of baroque violin at Brussels Royal Conservatory, recently visited Tokyo for a few concerts.
We met at a restaurant for a chat and it seemed as if nothing changed since 1995. I have the warmest memories of François as a teacher, as a violin and viola d'amore soloist and sound-engineer at Ricercar Consort - the finest group around with which I had the chance to play during some three or four years.
Some time in 2003 I made a baroque violin for him, which he now lends to one of his students at Paris Conservatoire. François plays a fine violin attributed to Nicolo Amati.

Haydn Opera on Period Instruments

An exceptional event takes place in Tokyo in just a few days. An opera Orlando Paladino was written by Joseph Haydn and first performed at Eszterhaza's in 1782. The opera, a mixture of comedy and opera seria, was Haydn's most popular opera during his lifetime.

It will be performed by Les Boreades - an orchestra of period instruments - under baton of Ryo Terakado. The voices, orchestra and stage setting offer a delightful blend of tradition and modern experimentation.

Open stage rehearsal takes place today. Two performances are only a few days away. Click for more information (Japanese only).

Sound-testing and varnishing a new violin

The new violin from my studio has been compared to some of the finest instruments around. It was used in a rehearsal of a local orchestra as well as tried out in a concert hall in order to decide character of the varnish it needs.

It compared well against a few instruments attributed to the early 18th century Italian masters. It also exhibited its own distinct character, therefore there was no need for sound adjustments prior to varnishing.

It is now being varnished accordingly to my own system. I expect to have it finished by the end of this month. Visit this blog for colour pictures of this instrument and for the information on presentation party which shall take place in November.

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P.S. Picture by D.Badiarov

Do violins have a story to tell?

At the time when many great violin-makers were active, a German scientist Johann Heinrich Schulze studied the effect of light on silver salts. This was in 1725-27. At that time no one knew any practical application for this effect. However Schulze's research became the starting point for Nicephore Niepce and Luis Daguerre who developed photography in the 19th century France.

Early photographic processes were technically demanding which put them beyond the reach of violin-makers. Additionally they were probably not interested in documenting their work in pictures.

There are things I feel prompted to tell about violin-making. Telling those things through images is an integral part of my story. Recently I received a present from a photographer-friend: an enlarger previously belonging to Tomio Seike. I hope this, as the time goes, will help me to create better images of my instruments.

If you are a violinist you might wonder: why to create not only instruments, but also their images? And why to tell stories! Keep coming back to discover this and more...
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Photograph by D.Badiarov: An old pier near Tamachi (Tokyo).

The Strings

"In matters of Antiquity, there are two extreames, 1. a totall neglect, and 2. perpetual guessing ... " (Roger North, 1728).

The moment has come to string this violin once and for ever, and its sound suggests, that it was not terribly wrong to abandon "perpetual guessing" some 15 years ago and dedicate my time to the "matters of Antiquity".

The matters were indeed easily accessible in Brussels, where I lived and worked during 12 years. From Brussels, it takes no time to visit major libraries in Paris, London, Milan, Amsterdam, Cologne, Utrecht and, most importantly, you meet and work with musicians and instrument-builders sharing the same spirit - an adventurous, artistic spirit.

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At the school of violin-making

A couple of snap-shots from the school.

The pupils who happened to be in the varnishing room with their first instruments.

Varnishing with alcohol-based varnish takes up to 40 coats of varnish, while oil-based can be done in up to 3 coats.

Come back to this blog to find out more.

Antonio Vivaldi, La Follia for two violins, harpsichord and viola da spalla

A few days ago I have had an hour of musical fun with Marie Nishiyama (center), Paul and Kaori. We recorded La Follia for two violins and Basso Continuo.

The bass line is technically demanding for a common cello or bass viola da gamba. Some passages are virtually unplayable.

However, there aren't any unplayable passages on a small cello, which I played da spalla, of course.

My class at the violin-making school

This is the studio where I teach violin-making since over a year, and one of my talented pupils, Ms Sugiyama, fitting the violin bass-bar.

Due to the busy concert schedule I shall not be teaching violin-making for two weeks, however I should pass the school to check the varnish on my students' violins.

Since my schedules are getting rather busy, it is likely that this or the next year shall be the last year of my teaching there.

Visit this blog for the colour pictures in the near future.
P.S. Photograph by D.Badiarov

Why so different?

I passed the school to check the varnish on my students' violins.

There were some other students busy with varnishing their instruments. Although those are not officially my students, I treat them as my own and they start to pick from my baroquisms here an there. After all, violin is a baroque instrument.

When they saw the two violins made by my students, they exclaimed, "They are so different one from another! Why?" "Well", I said, "they are different because they are built by two very different persons". "Oh...!"
You should see their reaction! I bet this one has been planted into their minds.

When one has a creative thought, why to try to squeeze it into some anonymous standards? For whose convenience if not for the convenience of jury at violin-making competitions? Musicians or audience do not need it, they need something else.

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SAS

P.S. Photograph by Dmitry Badiarov: abandoned lot near the school of violin-making in central Tokyo. No one takes care of it except for a bunch of cats. There must also be a well in the depth of the lot. If you read Haruki Murakami's novels, you must have read about places like that.

Thursday morning at String Arts: modern violin

The neck was still not fitted to the body last Thursday. Today it is done and the violin is ready for the final adjustments before the varnishing starts, probably tomorrow. Today it is raining in Tokyo.

One of my clients recently asked, what is the most enjoyable process in making a violin. I needed a minute to consider. For me it is certainly the process of creating an image of the instrument first in my mind, then putting it on paper with all the details. This is then followed by a long period of carving the instrument from various woods: spruce, maple, ebony...

I enjoy rigorous style of carving, which brings out the beauty of the wood and gives the instrument an appearance of a living object, an object, created by a human... or still, better, by the "nature herself". Do you remember the name of a baroque musician who expressed exactly this ideal in music instruments? Keep coming back to these pages to discover that and more.

I am glad to see some of my students at Daikanyama school of violin-making starting to grasp this aesthetic.